


Operation Rescue Opportunity.

by xAwkward_Ariesx



Series: Random Shorts [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Rescue Missions, Rescuing Oppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 00:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17798000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xAwkward_Ariesx/pseuds/xAwkward_Ariesx
Summary: The Doctor finds out about Oppy's haunting last message.





	Operation Rescue Opportunity.

Graham trudged slowly into the console room, the Doctor cussing in a foreign tongue in the background as she worked on repairs. He didn't try to understand the complex maintenance required to keep such a ship running. He had asked once but that had cued a very offended rant from the Doctor and left him with even more questions.

He'd learnt to accept that the TARDIS always knew what temperature he wanted his room, that sometimes corridors moved and that occasionally the walls seemed to pulse. It was all part of the charm, he supposed.

The only problem was, it was never truly silent between the ship's humming, the Doctor's muttering, Ryan and Yaz's typing, even it's quiet moments there was a constant cacophony of sounds that seemed to follow him throughout the ship. It was a blessing really. Nothing like his flat that was far too silent since Grace's passing. The constant noise reminded him even in his dark moments that he wasn't alone there were friends waiting whenever he was ready to let them in.

Today was one of those days were his own company becoming exhausted with painful memories and he needed that noise and companionship.

Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to be preoccupied. Doc had her repairs, Yasmin was nowhere to be found and Ryan was engrossed in his phone - how he had any signal was beyond Graham but it was just another one of those things he'd learnt to accept.

"Alright son?" He clapped Ryan on the shoulder. "Whatcha got there then?"

"#Oppy, it's trending on twitter."

"What now?"

"Oppy, it's the nickname for the Mars Rover - Opportunity - they lost signal 8 months ago and have finally given up." Yasmin answered as she too strolled into the console room.

"What?" The Doctor asked, pulling themself abruptly out from under the TARDIS' console.

"Yeah the last message they received was 'my battery is low and it's getting dark' then her camera went out." Ryan answered.

The Doctor darted over to the monitor, the sound of aggressive typing filled the air. They slowly crowded around unsure of the Doctor's plan.

"What are we looking at?" Ryan finally asked.

"NASA's database. Specifically JLP, the department in charge of waking Oppy up."

"We're not actually going to call it Oppy, are we?" Graham spoke up.

"She." The three of them corrected in unison.

"And of course we are, that's her name." The Doctor stated.

"I think it's cute." Yasmin said.

Ryan nodded earnestly.

Graham sighed in annoyed acceptance. Of course they'd bond to a space rover. He was more surprised they hadn't found the pting cute, destructive eating habits aside.

"Oh you lot finally confirmed that there's water on Mars. Well done Oppy, very impressed. Though that _will_ cause some trouble for you in the future. I'm surprised you lot haven't run into the indigenous species yet. Though I think Sarah was looking into that."

"There's actually life on Mars?" Yasmin  questioned.

"Course there is! Though they're not called Martians and they're not particularly friendly."

"Who the hell is Sarah?"

"Old friend of mine, she's been keeping an eye on the Mars rovers for me. She cuts the transmission whenever you lot get too close to disturbing the locals."

The fam looked at each other for a moment as of debating whether or not they believed it. Before just shrugging in acceptance. Of course a friend of the Doctor's was messing around with the rover's transmission.

"Oh, her mission was supposed to be only 90 days but it's been 15 years. Poor thing, most be lonely."

"Doc, I don't mean to be rude but it's only a robot."

"It's not just a robot, Graham! Honestly you lot, keep up that attitude and you're going to have some serious problems." She patted the console comfortingly, at a particularly high pitched hum, as of the ship was personally offended by the insinuation.

Yasmin looked slightly perturbed by the the suggestion of a possible android uprising in their future, but pushed on regardlessly.

"What's the plan, Doctor?"

The Doctor hummed questioningly, finally looking up away from Opportunity's statistics. It took a moment for her to gather herself before she was darting around the console pushing buttons and throwing levers. They barely had time to jump out of the way as she completed her circuit.

"Uh Doctor?" Ryan finally tried grabbing the aliens attention when there was no forthcoming explanation of a plan.

"Who fancies a quick trip to Mars?"

"Wait are we going to save Oppy?"

"Yep." She answered with a grin, pulling the final lever into place they landed with a thud.

The Doctor darted to the TARDIS doors, her long coat swirling behind her. She stopped just short as she throw her head back in frustration. She ran past them again into the belly of the ship.

"I won't be long!"

They looked at each other in amused confusion, content to wait out the scatter brained timelord.

When she eventually did return it was in a painfully bright space suit.

"Urgh, I forgot how heavy this thing was."

"Do we all need to change?" Yasmin asked tentatively, not looking forward to the prospect of maneuvering in the clumpy suit.

"No, sorry I've only got the one. I think I borrowed it from a scientific expedition."

"Doc I don't think it counts as borrowing if you don't intend to give it back."

"Of course it does. I borrowed the TARDIS." The Doctor countered as she gave the readings one more look over.

"The TARDIS is stolen? Wicked." Ryan added.

"Not stolen, borrowed. Right everything seems to be in order. I shouldn't be long." She trotted back down the ramp, before stopping abruptly to fix them with a hard stare. "Don't touch anything, I don't fancy being stranded on Mars. Again."

"But you can't go out there. It's - 200°C!"

"I'll be fine. This things got an internal heater and I have a lower body temperature than you lot. Now, no touching."

"But-" The Doctor disappeared out onto the surface of the red planet cutting off Yasmin's protests as the door swung shut in the dust cloud.

Yasmin gnawed at her lip as the three of them stared silently at the door. The howling of the dust storm echoed around them. A wooden box was all that stood against it.

"How's she even going to be able to find her out there?"

A projection of the red planet flickered on behind them. There, taken from a bird's eye view, was the TARDIS and several paces away was the Doctor and an indistinguishable dust coated object.

"Is that?"

"It's Oppy!" Ryan declared.

The projection flickered off once more.

They swiveled back round to face the doors awaiting the bots arrival and the Doc's return.

It took several minutes but the doors swung open as the Doctor pushed the rover inside, leaving a trail of rust red dust in its wake.

"Help me get her in!"

They clamored forwards, each grabbing a portion of the robot's metal hull to pull. They just about managed to get her up the ramp before they sagged from  the exertion. She didn't seem particularly big but she was but to endure the climate of Mars and it certainly could be felt.

The Doctor slammed the doors shut against the storm and began brushing off Oppy's solar panels when a great gust of wind came from within the console, blowing off all of dust, creating a small mound by the door.

"Thanks dear." The Doctor spoke to the central column, before darting forward to attach cables from underneath the console to the rover.

She leapt over the clump of wires to dance around the console, pushing buttons as she went.

"Anything we can do to help?" Yasmin asked.

"Press that blue button there, the one that looks like a clover."

They looked at each other cautiously, neither wanting to be the one that messed up this rescue mission. Before Ryan lent forward with a shrug, pressing the aforementioned button.

A slow whirring suddenly started up, seeming to come from Opportunity.

The Doctor let out a cheer of triumph.

"She's awake. I'll just give a little extra boost and..." A message slowly started to crawl across the screen as the bot adjusted her camera.

"Woah." Ryan breathed in astonishment.

"You can say that again, son."

"What's the message say, Doctor?" Yasmin asked.

The Doctor beamed at them before spinning the monitor around to show them.

 **'Misson.... complete?'** it read.

"Time to go home, Oppy." The sentiment was punctuated with the sound of the lever clicking into place.

* * *

 

Craig was sure there were plenty of more interesting jobs than a security guard for NASA but it had its perks. He had been diligently watching the security cameras when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun his chair round to face the second set of cameras, he stared at the image in front of him in disbelief for several seconds before scrambling for the phone.

"Get Mr Staabs down here now."

 

* * *

The assorted team of scientists and engineers stumbled into the car park eagerly. And there she was. Mars rover Opportunity. Stuck upon her hull was a folded sheet of bright orange paper. Michael peeled the sheet off and unfolded. Scrawled across was a message.

_'I think it's time to consider retirement. Love, the Doctor.'_

Michael Staabs allowed himself a smile.

"Oh you wonderful, alien." He muttered to himself, before crouching down to look into Oppy's camera. "Welcome home Oppy."


End file.
